Justice for Sara Millerey! Stop the attacks against trans women!
The International Women’s Alliance strongly condemns the violent and hateful murder of Sara Millerey, a 32-year old trans woman from Bello, Antioquia, Colombia. After being raped and beaten, her arms and legs were broken and she was dumped in the Playa Rica River, she later died due to her injuries after being taken to a local hospital by paramedics. Images and videos surfaced online showing her injured and crying out for help in the river. Instead of defending her or coming to her aid – many individuals recorded and posted online instead.
Millerey’s death is part of an increasing trend of violent crimes against LGBTQ+ people in Colombia, with a 29.6% increase in violent crimes committed against transgender women, men, and non-binary people between 2023 and 2024 and a staggering 24 reported murders of LGBTQ+ people already in 2025. This figure continues to grow due to inaction and neglect from the Colombian Government, local officials, and others who have the responsibility to act.
On paper Colombia has legalized gay marriage, allows for legal sex changes, and has a number of other laws protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, but it is clear that the government’s inaction is behind the growing threat of violence toward transgender individuals. This state neglect allows for the violence to happen at greater rates and with greater severity. In a powerful statement calling for justice for Sara, Corporación Caribe Afirmativo stated:
Lo que se le hizo a Sara no empezó el día de su asesinato. Empezó cuando se le negó un empleo digno. Cuando se le trató como objeto de burla en la calle. Cuando no se le reconoció como mujer en una institución. Cuando tuvo que defender su existencia, día tras día, sin que nadie la defendiera a ella. El asesinato fue solo el final de una violencia constante. (What was done to Sara did not begin on the day of her murder. It began when she was denied a decent job. When she was treated as an object of ridicule in the street. When she was not recognized as a woman in an institution. When she had to defend her existence, day after day, with no one to defend her. The murder was only the end of a constant violence.)
Sara’s murder highlights the difficult and dehumanizing conditions the transgender community continues to endure in Colombia and around the world. Trans individuals are still denied access to livelihood, healthcare, housing, services, and recognition which puts trans individuals at a higher risk for violence due to their precarious conditions. Despite these alarming trends, organizations in Colombia have been quick to condemn Sara’s murder, and to issue demands of the government that go beyond ensuring basic rights and welfare – and demand protection and meaningful change. Organizations in Colombia are valiantly sounding the alarm against the growing violence against the transgender community, and are refusing to stay silent in the face of growing attacks.
IWA joins Fundación GAAT (Grupo de Acción y Apoyo a Personas Trans), Corporación Caribe Afirmativo, Movement en Resistencia Transfeminista de Medellín, and many others who are challenging the status quo and fighting to expose the failures of the current system. We echo their demands for speedy and transparent investigations, strengthening local protections for LGBTQ+ communities, and advancing effective prevention and protection measures implemented for LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, in all of Colombia.
